Altale
by wortel
Summary: Rin failed the exam, and Grigori's deed states that he must be killed immediately; but a certain syndicate was half-hearted to let go of such an excellent weapon. Facing a crisis, they now decide to pull their last resort: to 'tame the dog'. What does that mean? You take the dog, torture it out of its sanity, and reshape it into the perfect monster – who obeys the command to kill.
1. Arcturus

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own Blue Exorcist. I am also not a native English speaker, so please bear with any grammar/spelling mistakes. Please review!_

* * *

Once upon a time, everything was free.

It's true! Every single thing on Earth can just be taken off of with no charge. Well, perhaps, you can get side-effects; such as food poisoning, et cetera. But everything was free, and no-one owned anything. Nobody owned anything, and nobody was owned by anyone. You are free. You are powerful. Nobody reigns over you, and you reign nobody. Life was as easy as blinking back over the infinite years, back to The Beginning – except life had not developed eyes back then, so that metaphor does not apply.

Then one day, there's a certain species who changed everything. Who evolutionised, and revolutionised, _everything_. To get things in those days, you must exchange it for something else worth of the exact same value. Someone would own something, and you're not allowed to touch it or take it. Everything was difficult.

Then came the age that you could _own_ somebody. You can _own_ your own fellow specie! You're taken out from your mother and the moment on from your birth, your life depends on a piece of paper. A contract. And you either live a jailed living man or a free dead bird. And that continues until this very day, to this very second. You are _owned_.

Nothing was free anymore. The species that owned everything – _humans_ , were the only ones powerful, and no other being is powerful enough to stop them as a collective. Livestock is owned and farmed by _humans_. Trees and plants were owned and grew by _humans_. Pets like dogs and cats were owned and tamed by _humans_.

 _Humans were owned by humans_.

Now, what if you're human – but also _not_ human?

Simple. You are an alien object. You have to die; because you can't _own_ anything while you are _owned_ by somebody.

* * *

"No." Yukio said as softly as he could, although the tears were brimming in his eyes and his skin was an alarmingly pale white. "You can't see him. He needs his space."

His arms were overstretched over their dormitory door, blocking the entrances of his students. Ryuji was there, first in line, raking a hand through his dyed hair and shouting at his supposed teacher. Shiemi was red-faced and teary-eyed, and the rest of the class was trailing behind, although Shima was at the farthest side of the corridor, his back leaning against the wall with his hands over his face. None of them could believe what had just been announced.

 _"Okumura, Rin." The Grigori member said in their initially deep voice. "Although we admire your efforts of coming through this far, and we are impressed, you have failed the exam – and that means that you can now pose a threat to humankind, and our branches. As our contract states, you will face your execution twenty-four hours from now. Within the space of that waiting period, you may do as you wish – within boundaries – inside of the Academy."_

"Look, you bloody piece of git. I can understand that he's- he's not got long left." Ryuji spoke, his usually deep tone now bubbly and wavering as if he's about to cry. His eyes were puffy and red too, as if he had cried the previous hour. "B-But can't we… Can't we, like – I don't know, talk to him? Last few words? I don't even care if it's a goddamn simple goodbye, for god's sake. I want to say it to him in person. God knows he tried his best in that bloody exam. His _bloody_ best. Look, can't we just say something? Anything' would do, please, just let us get through the goddamn door…"

Rin, on the other side of the door, had no tears in his cheeks, and his eyes weren't even red, nor puffy. He had his face suffocated by the thin volume of the pillow, one hand next to his head and one draped downwards onto the floor at the side of the bed. He hadn't bothered to change from his uniform; his shirt crinkled and untucked from his pants, unbuttoned at the collar and muddied with demon blood. His tail was limp and Kurikara was underneath his chest. His demon heart, concealed in the sword, beat together as one with his human heart, and they were faint, dull…

His eyes were half-lidded, and only half of the sapphire orbs glowed through his eyelids; the glow wasn't as bright as it was the day before. It was dull as dust, and they weren't gazing at the wall. They gazed at another world elsewhere, where everything was murky, and clouded with the unknown void…

The same words repeated through his head.

"… _you have failed the exam – and that means that you can now pose a threat to humankind…"_

There was a sound of a loud thump, Ryuji's loud booming voice and Yukio sighing in frustration, caving in. There was a muffled sound of his twin brother muttering, " _Right, only you. Everyone else, please kindly exit the building…_ "

The door groaned as his classmates' footsteps subdued, and the floor creaked as Ryuji entered the room. There was a nervous gulp, and the bed dulled downwards from the added weight. Ryuji had sat at the edge of bed, opposite to Rin. Rin remained unresponsive to the guest, however, and remained flopped and idle.

There was a thirty-second silence.

"Hey, 'kumura." Ryuji finally spoke. A nervous laugh bubbled up his throat. "God, I remember those days when I used to loathe you- not because you were a demon. But because of how irresponsible you were, how ignorant to everything… And it was how badly behaved you are that made us realise that we had the same goals, more or less the same ideology…"

There was a sigh. Ryuji didn't blame Rin for being passive.

"Then I realised how damn funny you were. Of course, you're a clumsy oaf, you can't even walk on a flat surface without falling face-first. You put your friends first before yourself, and even when you clearly knew that you could've been the party's leader, you agreed to be our special trump card. We worked together so well.

"I just… I just can't believe it, pal. You didn't even have any intentions at all to hurt anybody innocent. Sure, you get out of control sometimes, but you would always hold back in the end. You made us all forget that you're a son of an enemy."

Then Rin heard something that he didn't expect to ever come out of Ryuji's mouth.

He was _sobbing_.

That snapped Rin out of the void. Although his eyes only opened slowly, he sat up to witness his friend – the toughest out of the group, _crying_. And Rin didn't know how to react to this.

"God, look at me, blubbering like a baby." Ryuji laughed bitterly and sniffed. He sighed, turned around to face Rin and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Rin- bloody hell, Rin, if I have to say honestly… You're… You're the most _human_ person I've ever met."

* * *

Rin always thought that time passed so fast, yet time was something that never existed.

Time is only an ideology that humans made so that they can keep track of their own brain and not go mad. It's only a theory. Time doesn't exist – yet it does, only in the minds of human.

Time, although it doesn't exist, can deceive the human brain. One time two hours only feels like five minutes, and five minutes seem like two hours. And you wonder – if you've just gone through five minutes of time in two hours, would the others be left in time because you just passed it so _quickly_?

Twenty-four hours seemed to be days and days to oblivion in Rin's mind. Perhaps it was just the anticipation, or his brain as slowly turning into mush. Or perhaps it was both.

Bitterly laughing, he had considered himself lucky. Most people never knew when they were going to die; it was a sort of… unexpected thing that happens. But him of all these people: he had the privilege to know _when_ he was dying. It was an unlucky kind of lucky, and it made him scared.

He was now asking the questions most people would've asked – what _had_ gone wrong? His theory exam was fine. Hell, he even rivalled Ryuji at his marks! The practical exam was even _better_. He smashed through the thing, and he did himself proud. But the Grigori didn't think it was good enough. Even Mephisto had melted his face into confusion and confronted them, defending his performance, booming in an unusually loud voice of how unfair the Grigori was. But Grigori being the Grigori, their decisions are unchallengeable. It was pass or die. And, unfortunately for Rin, it was a 'die'.

But he wasn't interested in thinking about what he could fix. He was more interested in _which lives he could've saved in the future by killing his father_.

He was disappointed in himself. He blamed himself for being so ignorant. He blamed himself for being-

 _No_. That was self-pity. He had done his best. Father Fujimoto would've been proud he had done his best. Although yes, he should be disappointed in himself, but if his foster father was here alive by his side, he would smack him for moping around in depression. He should enjoy the rest of his hours; he was going to _die_ soon.

With sudden surge of energy after Ryuji had left the room, he pressed his ear to the door to check that nobody was there, or they'll think that if they see his sudden smiling face he was _eager_ to die. Now that'd be odd. No, he wanted all this precious moment to himself.

Rubbing his eyes, he opened the window and proceeded to climb up, his demon tail perking up. He decided to leave Kurikara by the bed. Once he was on the ledge, he hooked a foot on the next window, put his hands above the panes and hoisted himself up, repeating the process, grabbing into any nook or cranny if there wasn't any windows to climb left. He finally reached the roof and he sat on top of the tiles, basking himself in the dying sun.

Gazing up at the bright light, the sun reminded him of himself. The dawn represented his birth; but when the sun is up high and hot and it made the atmosphere so warm, the people below hated him because of how hot it was. And in the afternoon when it starts to get a little chilly, the people finally warmed up to him – because he gave them the light and the heat they needed. But in the end, everything that goes up has to come down, and he'll have to sink down in the end, and it'll all be dark.

Except, in his case, the sun only rises once and once only, and when it sets, it sets forever, and the world would be dark. And there is no moon to replace him.

When you are close to dying, it seemed like it was the only time your memory would unravel and you'd remember _everything_. Everything precious, everything sweet…

Rin stood up from the tiles and let the wind blow on his face and rake through his hair, his eyes glowing brighter than the setting sun. Of course, the sadness was still inside of him, prowling, screeching his failure, but he had come this far. For the Grigori to even let him to live this long is already a privilege, and he tried his best. It could've been better; but that's all that matters.

His friends are now official Exorcists – not his ickle brother's student anymore. Proper exorcists. And Rin was to be either an exorcist or a demon; he wanted to be both, but now, he seemed like neither of them. But he was proud of how far he had come. More so, he was even prouder for his friends. He was so happy when they announced that they've passed - all but Rin. But he was hurt when his friends' faces twisted into horror as the Grigori announced his death. It was as if someone just socked him over the head with a large boulder: it hurts. At least, it only hurts for a few odd hours.

 _"Rin- bloody hell, Rin, if I have to say honestly… You're… You're the most human person I've ever met."_

Although he didn't want to talk to his friends, partially because of an _inner jealousy_ that they've all passed and he had not, he still appreciated them. At that fight with Amaimon, he thought that they've all abandoned him for good. Because he was a _monster_ – but no. They did not. They were the _best_ first, and _last_ , friends he could ever have. And the way they tried to confront the Grigori when they announced his death…

Hearing small, padded footsteps, Rin turned his head around to see Kuro in his small form of a cat, yawning and sitting next to Rin.

" _Hey Rin_." Kuro cat rubbed up his calf. " _I… I eavesdropped on the humans. They were talking about you. Is it_ …" the cat seemed to gulp. " _Is it true that you're gonna have a death sentence soon_?"

Rin bit his lip and sat down back on the tiles, putting the pet demon on his lap. He rubbed his black fur behind his neck and sighed, nodding. "Yeah."

Kuro screeched, accidentally unleashing his claws, causing Rin to emit a rather painful ' _Ow_!' as the claws sunk into his thighs. The cat stood up on his hind legs and put his paws on each of his collarbones, his eyes bigger than ever. " _Rin! H-How, why_ …?!"

"O-Ow. I failed the exam, Kuro." Rin pressed his lips together and breathed out sharply from his nose, feeling the claw wounds close up tightly in his skin, courtesy of demonic healing. "Haven't I told you? If I fail the damn exam, I die." He laughed bitterly. "But of course, it's expected for me to fail the exam anyways—"

Kuro seemed to tear up and blow whatever he had bottled up inside of him and pounced at Rin with his now enlarged paws, having transformed into the much bigger form. Kuro easily knocked him down and Rin fell with a scream, his hand catching onto a window ledge just in time. When he saw that Kuro jumped down the building to attack him, Rin let out a panicked shriek and jumped down, up on his feet to escape whatever wrath Kuro was holding.

But Kuro's legs made Rin seem like he was walking instead of running. Kuro's claws reached and caught him by his shirt collar and pinned him down onto the pavement, the cement below beginning to crack because of how hard the impact was. Rin turned pale at the sight of Kuro's demonic eyes – what, was it already 24 hours and the Grigori had sent Kuro to kill him? But it just seemed like only three hours had passed…

"K-Kuro—hey, p-please-" Rin figured that he'd try to reason with him. But Kuro raised up his other paw and unsheathed his claws, and Rin closed his eyes, preparing for the oncoming death.

But death was not what he had received. He heard sad, lamenting mewls above him, and he peeked open an eye.

Kuro was letting out this giant sob, meowing loudly, howling. His big eyes were wet with tears.

" _R-Rin, you promised me that we'll stick forever and ever!"_ He cried. " _After Master Shiro died, you gave me this h-hope of a promised friendship_ … _And you broke it! You liar, you big, ugly, filthy liar! I hate you_!"

There was a big plume of smoke, and Kuro seemed to disappear. But he had shrunk back into his original cat size, now splayed on top of Rin's chest, bawling into his shirt. Rin frowned, dizzied with confusion, but pulled himself back to reality and put a hand over Kuro's head, gently stroking his fur comfortingly.

 _That's right_. Rin thought miserably as realisation struck him like lightning. _How many promises have I broken now_?

* * *

 _"Now, we can't do this." The hushed voice spoke. Everything around them was completely dark, as if they were in a void. Actually—they ARE in a void, where nothing existed. Sounds echoed and walls only exist if you imagine that they're there. "Of course, he is still weak. But I cannot imagine wasting such a perfect, excellent weapon. He is too good to lose."_

 _"Yes, I agree with you greatly, Hightide." The second voice spoke. "But it is a risk to let him live. He poses a great threat to humanity."_

 _"That's no worry, Crawford." A third voice said. "As the lead syndicate of all of our branches, we are not so poorly water-headed. There is another plan, lest he fails his exams."_

 _"And what, Lumbley, is the plan? The last time we've discussed this, there were no Plan B. It was either he passes or he dies." Hightide, the first voice said, much more gruffly than his previous speech._

 _"Oh, Hightide! Don't be so narrow-minded; of course I have a plan." The voice supposedly called 'Lumbley' sneered. "Now, Crawford. Have you ever heard of the saying- 'to tame the dog'?"_

 _"I'm sorry to say I haven't, Lumbley." Crawford said, with an edge of curiosity on his voice, but Crawford sounded more baffled than ever. "What is this you are planning?"_

 _"Well, it's exactly as it sounds like." There was a roar of laughter from Lumbley's side of the void, but it sounded more like groaning than laughter. "You take the dog, torture it out of its sanity, and reshape it into the perfect monster – who obeys every single command."_

 _"…Lumbley, you don't mean—"_

 _"That is exactly what I mean, Hightide. He is like wax. We have to melt the wax – we need to destroy him, slowly, bit by bit. When he becomes a mush, a poor-headed fool who knows nothing, we reshape him back into a brand-new candle, and his flame will ignite our victory against the rest of demonkind."_

 _There was silence in the blackness, before Lumbley spoke again._

 _"You truly are admirable, Lumbley. However," Crawford cleared his throat. "Isn't demon-experimentation banned millenniums ago? If we were to experiment with Rin Okumura now, then that would legalise every demon experimentation. We've already but the Illuminati into a strict warning, and if we do such things now, wouldn't that be… ironic?"_

 _"Who said that it would legalise every demon-experimentation?" Hightide said with a tone of frown in his voice. "We're the topmost of our branches, and every single exorcism law is made by us. We can change the laws whenever we like. Henceforth, I accept your plan, Lumbley. I will inform **the Grigori** as soon as I have time in my hands."_

 _"Excellent, Hightide." Lumbley nodded._

 _"Very well." Crawford agreed. "I am looking forward to the outcome of the experiment."_

 _Something in the black void suddenly appeared; and it looked like a white, bright light, but it did not illuminate the faces of the three who had spoken. The light shone and flew upwards, and a single chant rose through the air…_

 _"Ab **initio** , ab **antiquo** , ab **hinc** , ad **majorem Dei gloriam**!"_

* * *

There was a fuzzy dizziness, then Rin woke up in an instant.

For a minute, everything seemed woozy, then he came to his senses. It seemed that he had somehow dragged himself back to dormitory and fell asleep from all that crying with Kuro. Indeed, Kuro was in his arms, nuzzled into his chest.

"Hey, brother."

Yukio, his eyes bleary and bleak, sat next to him in the bed.

Then Rin remembered that today was his deathdate, and the least person he wanted to talk to right now is his only surviving relative (his father does not count). Groaning, he turned his face towards Yukio, sniffing.

"What?" he said bitterly. "You gonna confront me of how bad I did in the exams? How I could've done better? How careless I was in my studies?"

Yukio was silent for a while, and Rin could see that he bitten his lip deep enough so that blood could drop out of the delicate flesh. Rin suddenly felt bad, and sat up, when Yukio suddenly embraced him and started to sob on his shoulders, his whole frame shaking.

"N-No." Yukio said, his voice trembling greatly as he hugged his brother tighter, closing his eyes, not caring if his glasses were askew and they were digging into his nose. "Y-You've done well. Far better than I did my own exams. Father would've been proud."

Then Rin remembered that this was his own blood brother who gotten angry from constant F's from his tests because he loved him and he cared about him, and Rin pulled him closer and rested his head on his shoulder, starting to sniff.

"No matter how talented you are, you're still the tiny ickle brother." Rin laughed shakily, tears starting to pour from his eyes. "Who's gonna cook for you from now on when you get home, eh?"

Then Yukio laughed and Rin laughed and they both cried in each other's arms, as the clock ticks two hours from Rin's execution, and a big, big change to every one of their lives.

* * *

Rin's fists were shaking that hour, but he had a big smile on his face even though his cheeks were wet. He cooked a final lunch for Yukio, and said the necessary goodbyes to his friends; but he knew not to linger longer than a few minutes with them. Because if he did, it would be harder to let go of them, and it would then be hard to face the reality of his death.

He shoved his feet into his red boots and marched outside the dormitory. A crowd was already gathering there, and his friends were in a huddle at the front. Yukio, however, was absent, refusing to watch the gore of his death, and deciding to stay in his dormitory with Kuro. And Rin was fine with that. He knew that Yukio wouldn't be able to take it well enough.

Rin was met by two Exorcists he had not met before, and they escorted Rin through the Academy fields. Rin gazed at his deathbed; a large reversed pentagram concealed inside a circle, inked in with the blood of exorcists. Inside the pentagram was the face of Baphomet; the supposed true form of none other than his own father, Satan.

He was then forced down and laid on the ground. His head was pinned back, and his arms were outstretched into the two triangles of the pentagram, and his palms were struck down with two swords. The pain was unbearable as the exorcists slowly sank the two swords into his palm and straight down to earth, and he couldn't move his hands at all because the wound healed and _merged_ itself with the blade of the sword. They also stretched his legs so that they matched the two bottom legs of the pentagram, and Rin screamed as they struck swords at his ankles, his whole body shaking.

There was a gasp of horror in the crowd, and a sound of someone thudding down to the floor, faint.

The Aria exorcists began to chant, and Rin felt a sudden jolt in his body and he shrieked – usually the blue flames would've emitted from him, but the blades of the swords must've reduced his powers to nothingness. Everything was getting blurry, and all he could think of was **_kill! kill those humans who've hurt you! kill! kill! kill! kill kill kill kill kill_** _—_

An exorcist stood nearby his head, chanting in chorus with the other exorcists, holding Kurikara. He unsheathed the blade, but the flames still didn't emit. He raised the sword up high, aiming blow for Rin's neck…

" _Rin_!"

Rin recognised one of his friend's voice in the crowd, even though everything was spinning and it was fuzzy and it hurts. But the voice was as clear as a bell.

" _Rin—no matter what happens afterwards, we promise that we won't forget you_!"

Rin stopped struggling. Everything started to numb down, little by little, and he gazed upwards in time for the exorcist to lower his sword with lightning speed—and before the tip of the blade could graze his throat, Rin smiled a big, wide smile.

Then everything slowed down before it all spun around so quickly. Blood bubbled up from his throat and he choked and coughed and blood splattered everywhere like a fountain from his mouth. Sparks were flying from his body and although he knew that it didn't, the pentagram suddenly spun so fast, as fast as the speed of the Arias chanting and everything hurts and everything went up into plumes of smoke and he felt dizzy and nothing made any sense anymore.

Then every inch of his body burst and his flesh spat out blood, before everything quickly evaporated into smoke and nothingness, and Kurikara disappeared.

There was a loud, loud mewl somewhere in the distance, crying out in despair, and whichever cat did it seemed to call out to the clouds, and the thunderstorms began to veil the sky and the faces of the boy's loved ones.

It began to rain, and the pentagram drawn with blood was washed and swept away with the water.

There was no remnants of the half-demon, except from a small strip of fabric of his school tie.

When everyone left, Konekomaru picked up the strip of tie, and followed Ryuji and Shima behind.

* * *

 _Black._

 _Nothing._

 _I looked up, left, right, down, but there was nothing. The floor also consisted of nothing, but it was there. The walls consisted of nothing too, but it was there. I tried to illuminate the room by registering my flames, but nothing flickered to life._

 _I can't even see my own hands._

 _But there was a clinking of chains that bound me by my wrists and my ankles and my neck, and everything hurt._

 _"Am I dead?" I said aloud, even though I knew well enough that nobody was going to answer. But strangely enough, there was a voice. The voice sounded so strangely distorted in my ears, as if I was underwater—but I was breathing._

 _"No, you are not dead." The distorted voice spoke. "But you'll be as good as one, soon enough… Crawford, please tell them that we are ready."_

 _… Crawford…?_

 _Perhaps that was someone in the Grigori, but I knew that there was only three members of the Grigori, and none of them was called Crawford, nor did they have a voice so distorted it sounded so funny._

 _I am not dead._

 _This is not the Grigori._

 _I am still alive._


	2. Cassiopeia

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own Blue Exorcist. I am also not a native English speaker, so please bear with any grammar/spelling mistakes. Please review!  
Apologies for the rather short chapter. But nonetheless, enjoy!_

* * *

Yukio was getting paler and paler, each minute much more badly than the last. You could see his knuckles outlining his thin flesh, his mouth completely dry and his eyes unfocused. His eyes were travelling everywhere, and his glasses were completely askew. He didn't even know why he was up and teaching when his mental state was borderline to madness. He needed a break. Yet here he was, walking up the corridor… he made a mistake of waking up.

He had a new class to teach, as his previous class had already passed their exams and they were now fully-licensed exorcists, either within the Academy or out on a demon mission. Shaking the one thing he did not want in his mind, he entered the classroom, facing a fresh set of Pages, forcing a smile to his lips.

"My name is Mr. Okumura." He said without missing a beat, but his tone was wavering. "Welcome to True Cross Academy… yes?"

He looked at the boy who had shot his hand up, and everybody was instantly whispering to each other. Yukio did not know what was going on: it was probably a normal thing that everybody couldn't focus on the first lesson.

"Oh, sir!" the boy squeaked. "I thought you were dead? Ma says that she saw you being executed on that pentagram, you were the son of… you know…"

"…?" Yukio was frazzled for a while, before he shook his head. "Oh, no, no. That's was my twin brother. We look alike, see, but he's the one's who's dead…"

Yukio's sight then seemed to distort. He frowned, wondering if he had picked up the wrong glasses prescription, rubbing the lenses on his sleeves. But no matter how much he rubbed them, everything spiralled like a fisheye effect, and everything seemed to be much, much bigger than it was before… _now that table wasn't that big, if I remember correctly_ …

Yukio saw a hand slowly floating into his trance before he was slapped back into reality; I mean, _practically_ slapped back to reality. For some reason, he was on the floor of the classroom, with Ryuji shaking his shoulders vigorously enough so that he thought that they were having an earthquake. His students surrounded him in a circle, and Shima was trying to shoo them away from the scene.

"God alive, we thought we've lost you too!" Ryuji shook him again, sighing in relief. "Been tryn'a call out to you for good fifteen minutes. They say that you were in a complete trance, staring at the same spot, and you wouldn't respond no matter how much they tried to call you. So I had to use the last resort, sorry Teach—I mean, Okumura."

Yukio subconsciously rubbed his cheek and thanked him, sighing, picking himself up. When he felt that standing was also too much of a job for him, he wobbled backwards and leaned over the desk, his face dotted with grey, his skin sweating bullets.

"Why're you up and about anyways?" Ryuji said, in a much quieter voice next to Yukio. "You know you're in no state to work because of—"

The blonde-n'-black haired man stopped himself in time. "…Yeah. Mephisto've already excused you from work until you feel you're ready. You don't look half alright to me, man."

Yukio shook his head and steadied himself, taking in deep breaths. "God, I'm fine, really. It's just a little bit of a headache—"

"Bloody suit yourself, four-eyes." Ryuji sighed, grabbing Yukio by the waist and hoisting him up his shoulders. Ryuji knew that if he argued further, he'll just get a no for an answer, so he'll do what's best: pick him up and dump him in the dormitory and give him a few days. Yukio squeaked in shock and tried to wriggle from his hold, but the pain pulsed through his temple and he had no choice but flop over his broad shoulders, his glasses just barely hanging by his ears.

"Hey, jelly-head. Cover the class for the day. I'll drop him off at his dorm." Ryuji spoke to Shima. At normal circumstances, Shima would've gone to a mock-drop of horror, hanging his head lousily and moaning about how annoying children were. But his face was set hard and he nodded without complaint, gathering the students back to their seats. Ryuji breathed out from his nose and closed the door from outside, getting out a key and unlocking the door, opening the door again not to reveal the classroom, but the corridors of Yukio's—and formerly Rin's—dormitory.

There was a few seconds silence s Ryuji walked still carrying Yukio on his arms, before he spoke again.

"Hit us all hard, you know." The taller man muttered slowly, his piercings clinking in his ear in unison to the thud of his boots. "… Shiemi's bawling onions, literally, enough to water her whole garden with her own bodily fluids… God, 'Kumura, it's really painful."

Yukio didn't say anything, and let Ryuji carry him to his dormitory. He suddenly lost all motivation to carry on for the rest of the day, let alone even keep his eyes open…

"… s'all regret now he's gone." Ryuji said, opening the door of the room with his foot, pushing down the handle. "You know, if we could all just turn back time—"

Ryuji stopped in his tracks, and Yukio's eyes widened. They both knew what Ryuji just said.

"… Turn back time." Yukio said slowly, his face slowly regaining its original colour. Ryuji stared out into the room, struck with sudden realisation, before he broke into a sprint outside the building, carrying Yukio with him, not caring whether Yukio complained or not. And Yukio didn't blame him – he didn't even notice the fact that Ryuji was still even carrying him.

 _"My name's Mephisto Pheles, and I'm the King of Time! Sure, I've had a few names in the past… Loki, Trickster…"_

"For Gehenna's sake, if he's not in his office…!" Ryuji grumbled, pulling out his keys again and unlocking a random door in the corridor, opening it to enter back to the True Cross Academy.

Ryuji finally let Yukio down, and they both ran to the door that would hopefully, probably, provide them an answer.

* * *

The first thing Rin felt when he woke up was burning; and funnily enough, it wasn't fire. He was ultimately unaffected by fire, even if it was an exorcist-specialist fire. No, this was not fire. It was something wet… _water_ … _Holy Water_!

Rin screamed in agony, trying to claw his face, the substance stinging in his skin, but his arms were chained. It was as if a hoard of hornets had surrounded his face and stung every pore of his skin, and it _hurt_. He didn't know what burning felt like for all of his life, but he had a good idea of how it felt now and it felt _horrible_.

The pain didn't subside for at least ten minutes, and even after that Rin still felt as if his skin had just tightened around his skull painfully. Once the pain had faded and he could only feel his sticky face, he properly looked around—well, there wasn't much to look around. Everything was still black, and he didn't know how much time had passed since his "supposed" death. He wasn't even sure if he was dead or not, but he was sure that Hell didn't lock you up in chains. He knew he had been sleeping with his body hanging by his arms (he wondered how they haven't dislocated from his arm sockets yet) for… well, for how much time? He didn't even know if this had been a day, or it was the same day on his execution, or if it was weeks and weeks after.

"Up and awake?" the same, distorted voice echoed through the dark. Rin held back a groan as he didn't want to risk another Holy Water bath, and mumbled a blatant 'yeah'.

"Good." The voice said, and it sounded cheery even though it was distorted. It was almost like the cheery voice of an electronic toy that ran out of battery: it sounded… well, cheerily distorted. Rin couldn't imagine hearing the same voice in his nightmares.

"Where am I—who are you, anyways?" Rin said carefully. "I thought—I thought them Grigori lot got rid of me. Struck me down to the pentagram, and next thing I know I'm in here…"

"You are in—"

But before the voice could answer, another voice hushed him. Then there was a lot of bickering, before Rin had his reply.

"Sorry, can't tell you that." The distorted voice said.

Rin scowled. "Okay, fine. Jeez, you, or you guys, whatever, just sorta kidnapped me or something in this 'void', and woke me up with rather nice manners—" Rin coughed. "Can't you at least tell me where I am? And why am I here? God, where is Yukio?!"

"As I told you; we can't tell you that. We can't tell you anything."  
"And when are you gonna tell me, then?"  
"When you stop caring about it." The voice said. Rin stopped, swallowing, thoroughly confused with the whole setting. His mouth felt extremely dry.

Then his heart threatened to jump out of his chest when something, probably a machine, beeped so loudly he felt his ears throbbing. The beeping continued and there was a sound that a mining escalator makes when it goes down; the noise was unbearable. He thrashed and roared, feeling himself go out of control, the tiny voice screeching in his head— ** _stop! stop! I want to kill them all, stop… stop…!_**

"See, dear half-demon, we didn't want to possibly waste such an _excellent_ asset, and we had no choice." The voice said over the beeping and the loud grinding noise. "And if we can't have you through the most humane way we can obtain you, we're going to harvest the _full_ extent of your power…

" ** _Forcefully_**."

Rin was about to scream and ask what the hell he had meant, but he was suddenly submerged in the water, head to toe. And it wasn't normal hydrogen-and-oxygen kind of water. It was the same water that woke him up; but the burn was much stronger than before. It was a high concentration of Holy Water – and he knew from past experiences that this was the highest possible concentration.

And he was _submerged_ in the sloshing liquid.

His skin started to burn and frizzle, bubbling from underneath – Rin opened his mouth to scream, even if he was underwater, but he stopped himself. If he opened his mouth, the water would slosh into his mouth and if he swallowed it, it'll do an internal damage to his organs. So he squeezed his eyes shut and screamed internally, the pain unbearable—when he suddenly realised that not only he was in a tub—or a pool—of Holy Water, but he also had to _breathe_.

In panic, Rin tried to move his arms, but the metal around his wrists did not budge. Neither did his legs. The burning sensation just added to the lack of oxygen and he can feel his whole body trembling and shaking like never before, and the water was burning into his skin in rapid speed.

He couldn't take any more of it. He screamed inside the water, and the substance instantly entered his mouth, burning him not only from the inside but also outside.

Then he could hear the sound of beeping, and the chains that held him by his arms hoisted him up, just enough for his head to emerge from the water, but before Rin could even recover and take a breath, he was dipped down underwater again, choking, thrashing in pain.

It was a cruel play. It was a full minute before he was then hoisted up again, but submerged down in a matter of seconds. It repeated again and again as if he was drowning; and he was submerged longer than he emerged. What was meant to be taking a welcome gulp of air turned out to be swallowing Holy Water down his throat, and he was writhing and screaming in agony as he was repeatedly hoisted back up and down by the chains.

He could feel his lungs burning—no, _everything_ was burning. He knew that his skin had burnt away and the water was now actually burning his _flesh_. He screamed over and over again, sometimes muffled by the water. The method of torture only lasted for five minutes, but the whole process seemed like a whole day to Rin, who was whimpering and shaking by the time it ended.

When it did end, he was slowly hoisted up and he took large breaths as possible, his whole body fizzing as his demon healing painfully regrew his skin once again. His head was hung and his shoulders were ultimately shaking, and tears poured down his cheeks. The feeling of burning was suddenly replaced with the absolute sensation of _freezing_ , his teeth chattering as he sobbed.

"P-Please—" he cried, his voice taking the one of begging. He had never felt as low as this before. "P-Please, n-no more, n-no more…"

* * *

"… What?"  
"Y-You… please, Mephisto, you _have_ to understand. You know you can do it, we all know you can—"

Yukio was ready to get on his knees and beg. He knew Ryuji was, too. They were in desperate need.

Rin was dead. Rin was dead—and there was only one thing he could change. They wanted to revert back in time, and they were prepared to do anything; _anything_ at all, to prevent the execution. And who knew better at toying and manipulating time then the _King of Space and Time_ himself?

"Yes, I understand! But—" Mephisto laughed. But his laugh wasn't the usual cheery, you-are-such-an-idiot mock laugh he usually had done before. It sounded bitter; dry and sarcastic. "Bollocks, both of you. I can't."

Ryuji, outraged, jumped out of the seat he had taken when he entered Mephisto's office and leaned over the desk, grabbing the demon's collars, practically spitting at his face as he shouted.

"Listen here, you _madman_. You don't understand how _desperate_ we are. And—and weren't you _supposed_ to keep him _safe_? Aren't you his legal guardian? And I utterly hate to even say this, but I'm pretty sure Satan would be _angered_ if he found out that he's—he's _dead_ , right?!"

Ryuji was shaking him violently, but it was not the reassuring shake that he had gave Yukio earlier to wake him up from his trance. It was a threatening kind of shake—and, before Ryuji could say anything further, Mephisto grabbed one of Ryuji's wrists, and Ryuji seemed to freeze and stop.

Everything seemed to turn ugly about Mephisto. His face was twisted into an ugly, dark frown, and his top-hat shadowed over his face, making his eyes eerily glow under the shadow. Long, sharp nails had ripped its way out of Mephisto's gloves and they circled around Ryuji's wrist, and everything seemed to get darker and darker, and Yukio realised that everything had just gone black except from himself, Ryuji and Mephisto, and the chairs that they sat on, plus the desk. Everything else was void, and dark.

When Yukio laid his eyes back to Mephisto, he no longer looked like Mephisto. He had transformed into an ugly, black rabbit, the facial features twisted, with horns protruding out of his temples, curled and unordered. His nose was long and crooked, and a pair of featherless wings was folded behind his back, and a leather tail was waving behind his back—he looked contrary to his human form; all pink and white, cheery. But this was another level or horror.

" ** _There are things meant_ not _to be changed_**!" Mephisto, or whatever the creature was, roared. It let go of Ryuji's wrist and pointed at his chest with a long, jagged nail, and a speck of blood was visible through Ryuji's shirt. " ** _Did you think that I wouldn't've done that if there were no complicated consequences_**?! **_I'll have you know—changing and manipulating time is not all fun and games that you can go back through time every time you make a mistake_**!"

Its wings unfolded and it turned uglier; its eyes bulged out of its sockets, uneven rows of teeth protruding from its upper jaw. Ryuji slowly backed away from him, his face frozen in terror.

" ** _Of course Father is angered! And I am the one responsible for his death_** — ** _I_** , **_the great King of Time, cannot change anything about the fact that your measly little brother is dead_**!"

Then Mephisto stopped shouting. Somehow, both Ryuji and Yukio were fixated on the ugly creature's eyes; they were red, and it seemed to revoltingly _pulsate_ out of its sockets, as if it was about to pop…

Before anything could happen, however, everything reverted back into the way it was. Everything blew back to place, and they were suddenly in Mephisto's office again. The difference was that Mephisto was still sitting in his desk, back to his human form, and both Yukio and Ryuji had somehow travelled back to the door of the office.

"I'm afraid that it's time for lunch, boys." Mephisto said cheerily, smiling, as if nothing happened and he never turned into such a hideous monster just a few seconds ago. As if they never even had the conversation at all. "Fancy some ramen noodles, eh?"

Yukio, realising that Mephisto had just revealed to them his hideous demon form, shakily declined and ran out of the door. Ryuji followed behind him, his face struck-pale, and the small speck of blood in his shirt seeming to fade away and disappear.

Meanwhile, Mephisto, in his office, had smiled and pulled out a single cup of ramen from his desk drawers, and opened it. Clicking his fingers, hot water poured out of nowhere into the cup and he waited for the noodles to cook and boil. When it was ready, he poured in some sauce and began to eat it, grinning to himself.

"Well, that was quite the performance, brother." The green hamster said squeakily on his desk, its beady red eyes blinking towards Mephisto. "Are you going to keep this façade forever, or until the plan is truly fulfilled?"

"Oh, I don't know, Amaimon." Mephisto smiled as he slurped a noodle. "Say, have you played a double-prank before?"

"Nope." The hamster seemingly shrugged as he nibbled on a nut. Then his eyes seemed to widen, before the hamster fell into peals of laughter.

"Oh, so you've realised?" Mephisto cackled. "Not only the Grigori, but also that darn syndicate is playing perfectly into our hands, too…"

Mephisto snorted. "I lied, see. Manipulating time **_is_** fun and games—especially when everything is complicated, and _nobody_ knows the truth here… And they think that what they're doing is going oh-so-fine! But no, no, of course not, not under the _eyes_ of Samael…"

The room seemed to glitch, and Mephisto was suddenly constantly changing back from his human form to demon form, as if someone was constantly switching between two television channels. But one thing remained the same; both forms of Mephisto were cackling, and it echoed throughout the void…

* * *

Yukio sat on the bed of his room. He and Ryuji had looked at each other upsettingly, and Ryuji muttered a 'sorry' and walked away. Yukio didn't blame him. They've both tried their best. What to do now was the part where they have to _move on_. Yukio knew it was bad to longer the thoughts of the dead in one's mind. The death of Father Fujimoto was already heavy, and added by the weight of his now already _dead_ brother… Ryuji was right after all. He needed time to recover.

Swallowing nervously, he flopped backwards into the bed and laid exactly as Rin had done so just one day ago, his glasses pushing up into his temple. He raked a hand through his hair and sighed, looking at the opposite room, glancing at the empty bed and the empty desk… Yukio slowly sat up and walked to Rin's desk, smiling at the doodles he had drawn with pencil on the wall right above the desk.

" _Nii-san is so bossy, he's just like a mother! Bwehhh…"_

Below the scrawled handwriting, there was a poorly drawn Yukio with an odd expression, with a moustache on. Rin doodled a lot on his desk, there was even one of him as a Paladin… Yukio chuckled softly, smiling fondly even though the wound was still raw. He tapped the desk with his palm and sat on Rin's bed, before a screech emitted under the blankets.

"G-God! O-Oh god… W-wait, you… K-Kuro?"

A black cat prowled out from the blankets, hissing angrily at Yukio. But it then stopped and started sobbing melancholically, and Yukio knew why.

"I'm so sorry, Kuro. I wish I can talk to you about it, too…" Yukio bit his lip, picking Kuro up gently and putting him on his lap. He slowly stroked his soft fur, remembering back then where Rin had tamed him from his wrath after Father Fujimoto's death…

" _Don't worry! I'll use my head this time_!"

Tears gathered in his eyes full-force, and he removed his glasses to wipe them, soothing Kuro of his cries…But he didn't hear another cry; somewhere far in the distance, out of his reach. Unfortunately enough, the cry wasn't within his earshot to hear—yet the cry was so _desperate_ , so hoarse and so croaked, pleading for help…


End file.
